The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-05-10
KING OF sAwpusr swINoLERs.
A Little Confidence Man Explains tn,
Inwardness OF His Game.

Inwardness OF His Came
A dapper little man stood on the corner
of Houston street and the Bowery thu,
other night. He wore an immaculate
white shirt front, from which sparkled
a six karat brilliant Of the purest water.
a heavy gold watch chain hung from his
waistcoat. on which was suspended a
large gold horseshoe with seven diamonds,
representing nail heads. A large ring
encircled the little finger of his left hand,
with an eight karat stone imbedded in it.
which shot out little prismatic sparks
with a snap at every move of his hand.
This little man was none other than
Barney Mcguire, the king of sawdust
swindlers- He appeared to be more COM
municative than usual, and did not hest
tate to unbosom himself to friend:
Ten years ago." he said, Il was
working at my trade as a journeyman
bricklayer, earning a salary of s. a day.
don't Just now recall what first led me
into the doodle business. but started Us
you know. Other people know it, too,
and much to their sorrow.
The little confidence man gave a quiet
chuckle and continued: And / have
been so successful at the sawdust game
that 800, 900 in cold cash would not
touch me to-day. The game has grown
so threadbare, and has been exposed so
often, however, that l am kept continu-
ally studying up some new scheme to
rope in the guys. 1t isn't anything like
it used to be. can tell you. Why, can
recollect five years ago. when thought
nothing of raking in 5000 a week. and
on several occasions took in SIS, 600 in
one week. Those were good times.
Nowadays if / make $500 or $1,000
L Mo i'm,
penses are frightfully heavy, too. I've
always got fifteen or twenty steerers that
must be paid $15 or $50 a man, accord
ing to the Doodle that he drops. Then
there's my turner. who has charge of tine
layout. He must be paid well, for a
good turner is not picked up every day,
and then, besides, have agents all over
the country looking up good subjects to
work on.
when a man is found whom 1T is
suspected will take the bait, one of my
circulars is sent him. There's nothing in
it that could criminate me even if it got
into wrong hands. | don't tel him that
I'm selling counterfeit money, but simply
allude to it as manufactured green stuff
in the denominations of Is, IS, IS, los
and EOS. He generally knows what it
means. If he writes back for a sample,
and think he means business, cut, for
instance, a brand new. good s. bill in
two and send one-half Of it to him. This
generally brings him. 1t has been pre-
viously understood between Us that upon
his arrival i'm this city he is to telegraph
me at what hotel he is stopping and under
what name. Then one of my steerers
calls at the hotel and steers him to the
layout, which is situated either up stairs
in. TO-. l.
sage way. You will understand the
reason for this presently.
when he gets into the layout it s a very
rare thing that he leaves it with more
than Just money enough money to take
him out of town. When he enters the
layout which has been fixed for his re-
ception new green crisp greenbacks greet
his eyes on all sides. The shelves are ap-
parently full of them, and he imagines
that barrels are filed with the notes. The
packages on the shelves, however, simply
have u bank note on the top and bottom.
The rest il paper cut the right size. The
barrels have false tops. The greenbacks
have Just been brought from the sub
treasury on Wall street in exchange for
old bills. He first advances to the coun-
ter. takes up bill, and in nine cases out
of ten takes one from his pocket and COM
pares the two. He couldn't lie other
than satisfied. Then he signifies how
much he wants. He is told that he can
have $4,000 for $500. The money is
counted out by the turner, and either
done up in a package or placed in n
valise. If the guy has on good stone
a watch and chain, some fabulous sum
is offered for it and placed in with the
other money.
..VrbaY, fbs, hoe Isaav, oa.,,,ralx,
sealed something must be done to distract
his attention from it. 1t requires only
second. AS rule, one of my men from
behind him makes some startling re-
mark, and he turns his head, The Sec
| ond his head goes around a package is
| substituted in place of the one the money
| is in. He il allowed to carry his own
| package in this case. But he Is told that,
| in order to insure us against any treachery
on his part, he must take the package to
the express office and send it to his home
| He must then allow one of my men to
| accompany him to the train, and see the
train start off with him IL it. Then we
| are safe.
when he arrives home he calls for his
package and very likely locks himself in
his room and stuffs the keyhole full of
paper before he opens it. When he does
open IL ne iindS a package OF sawuust or
| paper. with generally an accompanying
note which informs him that the package
| has been substituted on the road.
| I've had the same man come back
three times for more thinking that it was
stolen ON the road. IL he does find out
that we have duped him he can't squeal,
for he is as deep in the mire as we are.
| If guys attention in the substitute
ing act cannot be withdrawn from the
package, one of my men takes it, and in
company with the flat starts for the eN-
press Office. Going through the dark pas
| sage way or down stairs they meet a man.
In passing each other tile packages are ex-
changed. It's regular sleight of hand
work But say, I'm talking too long"
The king of sawdust swindlers looked
| at his handsome gold watch and walked
up the Bowery.-New YorkNun.
| Oanger from r.arrnquazes-